MY THOUGHTS ON LOVE...

©My Thoughts On Love…

On agape love, the dictionary (www.dictionary.com) defines it as: In Christianity: Love as revealed in Jesus, seen as spiritual and selfless and a model for humanity. Love that is spiritual not sexual, in its nature. In the early Christian Church, the love feast was accompanied by Eucharistic celebration. I would call it, an unconditional love.

On romantic love, romantic love sometimes gets your mind and emotions all tangled up and unless you both happen to get them tangled up together at the right and same times, one or both may be hurt. Romantic love is still no greater or lesser than the others.

On parent/child love, some parents have the natural instinct to carry out a parent's love and some don't. A parent’s love for their children should be never ending from the cradle to the grave and beyond. Still, parent/child love is no greater or lesser than the others.

On marital love, marital love it's like the parent/child love, it should be never ending as the wedding vows state: In sickness and health, for richer or for poorer, to death do us part. Now sometimes there is exceptions to this rule of course, i.e., abuse (covers all types of abuse and there are many), adultery, God made provision for these exceptions too; it is called, going your separate ways. He didn't however, make this provision for married people who run to the attorney's office every time they disagree on a subject or experience hard times. . Marital love too, is no greater or no lesser than the others.

On family love, family love figures into this same equation, one for the other, no matter what, always willing to lend a helping hand whenever possible and being there for the long haul. Family-love too, being no greater or no lesser than the others.

On Friendship love, some friendships endure for a lifetime, some for just a short while, some are one-sided and abusive, some say they're your friend and then talk about you behind your back, I believe the good Lord called that gossip. We as friends must observe very closely and look for the traits of a true-friend. I would say a true friend is in the friendship for the long - haul. Through the good times and bad times, the happy and sad times and all the in-between-times. Love never fails! Friendship love too, is no greater or no lesser than the others.

By now, I'm sure you are seeing how the different kinds of love over-lap with similarities but yet, each is distinctive; again, one love not being greater or lesser than the other.

Each one of these loves and relationships are available to each one of us. However, we must first open our hearts and minds and allow them to feel, to be real, to dig deeply down into our hearts and very souls and to have a true desire to do the right thing towards one another. To listen to that small quiet voice, I believe it’s called a conscience (God speaking to us).

A few good words that describe doing the right thing are: integrity, honesty, loyalty, faithfulness, kindness, respect for one’s self and others, being true to one's self and others, and of course not forgetting the golden rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. These are all good, “core values” and biblically sound.

I believe that we should not enter into any relationship with the idea of what is in it for us, but with the idea of what we can bring to the relationship, regardless of which type of love or relationship it is. This way all benefit, are happy, satisfied and blessed.

“No man is an island” so said, the English poet, John Donne. Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) also said, “Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all”. I can see much truth in both these quotes.

We all need one another, and to imagine life without real love, what a loss? And last and most certainly not least, what the Bible has to say about love:

Love is patient, Love is kind, It does not envy, It does not boast, It is not proud, It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. LOVE NEVER FAILS!

1 Corinthians 12:4-8

I believe that the Bible is God’s holy word, divinely inspired by God and recorded by man. Whether you believe the Bible is God’s holy word or not, if you read the words written there you will find them to be an excellent blueprint for daily living. These words of advice come directly from God, the creator, the author of the universe, what higher authority could we hope to find.